Burleson recalls being official, general

Wednesday

Jan 31, 2007 at 12:01 AMJan 31, 2007 at 7:12 AM

Vanderbilt won the toss and the head referee told the player he had three choices; he could kick, receive, or take either end of the field.The player said he didn't want either of them, that his coach had told him if he won the toss to take the wind."Okay, tell me which way the wind is blowing and I'll help you decided the end of the field," the referee said, wanting to get the game underway in a timely manner."I don't know, Coach didn't tell me that," the player replied.That is just one of many stories Dick Burleson tells from his 25 years experience as an SEC football official. He retired a few years ago, winding up as the best official in college football. Today he works in the instant replay review booth.Last year he wrote a book about his experiences, which is the first book written about officiating football games in the Southeastern Conference.Last week Burleson was in our town, speaking to the Military Officers of America Association. Burleson also is a retired major general, so he fit right in with that group of retired military officers. The conversation before the meeting was basically army talk. He served with a couple of the men, one of whom was Dr. Arthur Ennis, a retired colonel. He and several of the others had mutual friends in the service.His speech was about officiating and he said it was easier to become a two-star general than an SEC football official.His last game was the national championship game between Michigan and Washington State, played in the Rose Bowl.The University of Alabama played in a Rose Bowl game the year before he was born. Although California defeated the Crimson Tide 13-0, the game was a highlight for the Burleson family. An aunt was Alabama 's head cheerleader that year.Once Bing Crosby invited his parents to be his guest during Rose Bowl week when Alabama was playing in the game. Crosby took them all over Los Angeles and even asked Burleson's father to go on stage and sing with him at his nightclub.Burleson grew up in Blountsville, where he always listened to that bowl game on radio; he was aware that it was the "Granddaddy of them All" and so he was delighted when he was asked to officiate the Rose Bowl game on Jan. 1, 1998.He had been officiating major college football for 25 years, so he decided that would be a great occasion to bow out.Burleson told the story about Carol Burnett, as grand marshal of the Rose Parade that year, getting to be honorary coin tosser at the beginning of the game. He didn't like that. He explained to her that he had a routine for the coin toss, and he always tossed the coin. And that since this was his last game; he would just go ahead and flip the coin.Burnett said she'd been practicing for two weeks and wanted to do it. Well, when he handed her the coin, she tossed it like a softball about 15 yards down field.He goes into a lot more details about that in his book, which he titled, "You Better Be Right," a phrase he got from the late Paul Bryant.Burleson said it happened in a game against Vanderbilt when he stepped off a 15-yard penalty from the spot of the foul and Bryant was unhappy,believing that he had the wrong spot.After an argument, Bryant said to Burleson, "You better be right."He had considered naming the book, "Don't call everything you see, but see everything you call" which is the axiom of every SEC official."This is a serious business, and every official tries to get it perfect and ensure the integrity of the game," he said.Just as was his speech, Burleson's book is a mixture of the serious side of officiating as well as the humorous. The book is 188 pages and contains a lot of photos including one of him with Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf and another with Gen. Colin Powell. There is also a copy of a photo taken during an Alabama football game that is autographed by Coach Bryant and dated 1/25/83. That is said to be the last photo Bryant signed.One of the 12 chapters in the book is about Bryant.Burleson's father was the university's engineering consultant and became friends with Bryant during construction of Bryant Hall and an earlier renovation of Denny Stadium.Before each game, the head official meets separately with the head coach of each team. Burleson said every time he met with Bryant he was reminded of that friendship."Seemed like the bigger the game, the better friends they had been," Burleson said.The coaches were not supposed to say anything about the opposing team at those meetings, but Bryant would sometimes mention something about a certain player holding on every play."You are not supposed to say that," Burleson would start to caution."Oh, I know that. Just forget I said it," Bryant would answer, and flash that sheepish grin.The book also has stories about Gene Stallings, Pat Dye, Houston Nutt, Steve Spurrier, Vince Dooley, Billy Curry, Charlie McClendon, Jackie Sherrell, Tommy Tuberville, Brad Scott, Johnny Majors and Watson Brown. There also are chapters on certain situations and various things that happened in some of the games.This book is a must read for any SEC football fan interested in knowing about the inside of the game from a football official's viewpoint.The books sell for $27 plus $3 shipping and handling. Send orders to Dick Burleson, 1094 Country Club Circle, Hoover, AL 35244 . Or order on line at www.dickburleson.com.Jimmy Smothers can be reached at JimmyS1@peoplepc.com.

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